Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

The Toyota Corolla, which has been in production since 1966, is the best-selling series of automobile of all time.

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billion cars in use worldwide.

The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion-powered automobile in 1808. The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when the German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Commercial cars became widely available during the 20th century. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the 1908 Ford Model T, both American cars, are widely considered the first mass-produced and mass-affordable cars, respectively. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. In the 21st century, car usage is still increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, and other newly industrialised countries.

Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lamps. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These include rear-reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early 2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than petrol-driven cars before 2025. The transition from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios, such as Project Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change. (Full article...)

Recognized content - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

A later model Columbus-Firestone automobile in 1909

The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and automotive manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913.

Begun by three business partners, the company set up its manufacturing facilities in what is today the Arena District producing inexpensive buggies and dashboards, and quickly saw success. At its height it employed 1,200 people and was producing 100 buggies a day which were sold in every state in the United States. The company was one of the city's major employers and a significant portion of the city's buggy manufacturing economy. After the turn of the century it oriented itself toward production of electric vehicles and, later, of automobiles. Crippled by the Great Flood of 1913 and unable to compete with cheaper alternatives like the Model T, the company eventually went bankrupt in 1913, reorganized, and closed its doors a few years later. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Selected article - show another

Mercedes-Benz C 300 sedan (facelift)

The Mercedes-Benz W205 is the fourth generation of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class which was produced by Daimler AG between 2014 and 2021. The W205 C-Class was preceded by the W204 C-Class and superseded by the W206 C-Class. The fourth-generation C-Class was available in sedan (W205), station wagon/estate (S205), coupe (C205), cabriolet (A205) and long-wheelbase sedan (V205) body styles.

The W205 was the first vehicle to use the all-new Modular Rear Architecture (MRA) platform. The new structure is significantly lighter, using aluminum extensively throughout the body, resulting in a 100 kg (220 lb) weight decrease. According to Mercedes-Benz, the structure is much more rigid than other vehicles in its class. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture of the day

1999 Mazda Miata (MX-5)

Selected biography - show another

Portrait by Fred Hartsook, c. 1919

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would be used in the Ford Model T and other automobiles.

Ford was born in a farmhouse in Springwells Township, Michigan, and left home at the age of 16 to find work in Detroit. It was a few years before this time that Ford first experienced automobiles, and throughout the later half of the 1880s, he began repairing and later constructing engines, and through the 1890s worked with a division of Edison Electric. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 after prior failures in business, but success in constructing automobiles. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

More biography articles

edit

On this day January 4

1918 — Ford Motor Company begins construction on the massive integrated River Rouge Plant

edit

Did you know...

...that the racing version of the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winner of 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a roadcar converted from a Porsche 962 racecar, which dominated Le Mans, Group C and IMSA during the 1980s?
...that the 25 Millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg in March 2007? The first Golf started production in 1974, 33 years later the 1.4 litre TSI version became the 25 Millionth car.
...that the 2011 Ford Crown Victoria was the last car to offer a cassette tape player as an option?
...that the first production turbocharged cars were General Motors' A-body 1962 Chevrolet Corvair and Oldsmobile F-85?
...that Jeep introduced the 1993 Grand Cherokee and 2007 Wrangler in the same way — by driving them through a plate glass window?
...that a small number of Renault 20s, badged as Dacia 2000, were made in the 1980s by Dacia in Romania for Romanian communist dignitaries of that time?
...that the Autobianchi Primula was the Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup and rack and pinion steering?
...that the Plymouth Sundance is a liftback, even though the outside appearance might suggest that it is a sedan?
...that the name Volvo really means 'I Roll?' That's how Volvo rolls.

edit

Selected quote of the day

Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines.

—Enzo Ferrari responding to driver Paul Frère as to why his 250 TR had a limited top speed on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans

Topics

General images

The following are images from various car-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 11924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 2Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 3Trucks' share of US vehicles produced, has tripled since 1975. Though vehicle fuel efficiency has increased within each category, the overall trend toward less efficient types of vehicles has offset some of the benefits of greater fuel economy and reductions in pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. Without the shift towards SUVs, energy use per unit distance could have fallen 30% more than it did from 2010 to 2022. (from Car)
Image 4Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 5A Tesla Model Y electric car, the world's best-selling car in the first and second quarters of 2023. (from History of the automobile)
Image 6Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 7Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 8A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 9Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 101946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 11A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 12Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 13Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 141929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 15Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 16Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 172011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 18The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 19Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 201958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 21A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 22Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Stuttgart, a cradle of the car with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working there at the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and place of the modern day headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Group and Porsche (from Car)
Image 24The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 25The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 26The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 27A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.7 mph) at Daytona Beach Road Course. (from History of the automobile)
Image 281929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 29The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 301926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 31Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 32The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 331974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 34Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 35The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 36In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right pedal is the brake. (from Car)
Image 37The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 38The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 39Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 40The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 41Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 421954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 43A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 441885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 451959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 46The weight of the low battery stabilises the car. This is a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive layout but many cars only have one motor. (from Car)
Image 47The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 48Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 50Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)